Franklin

Anyone else looking forward to the start of the F1 season?

I am! Will Schu stay on his perch?

Pimpbot

I sure am. Lack of bit of news other than the net living out here. Although the speed channel has the odd F1 moment other than the actual races. I'll miss my annual trip to Silverstone for the second straight year

Go Montoya! and hopefully BAR will put a car under Button that might inable him to fight for some podiums.

Jxab12

I used to get the Silverstone trip as a perk for the last few years - no such luck now. Anyone go to the US F1 race? My money this year is probably on Raikkonen.

Pimpbot

I've been toying with the idea of travelling to Indy. I have friends in Minnesota that have been every year since Indy was added to the calender. Last year they sent me a picture of them in the stands with "Wish you were here" on it. Made me very jellous. lol

Franklin

OK, I was a newbie at attending the US F1 GP

If you decide to go to the American F1 GP, and you need a bed for the night; book your accommodation well in advance (there's a Holiday Inn near Indy, but it gets booked up fast). But whatever you do, don't repeat my folly! I drove 10 miles shy of Indy and then about 30 miles back down the highway to find a place to sleep! :scared:

Everything was jammed up solid or just too scarey to sleep in!

But I out-did myself next day when I parked my motor two hundred yards or so from the track in someone's front yard. Boy was I pleased with myself, but it took me two hours to get away!

HelenWebber

I do hope Montoya gets it this year, it was so close last year. I don't think Schuey has that much of an edge on him anymore, seems to have lost a little of his sparkle!

JulianB

mark270864

Oh yeah, can't wait. Vvrrrooooooommm !

The Speed channel is cr@p beyond belief when it comes to commentary so I get my parents to video the telecast in Australia and then try to avoid hearing or seeing the result before the tape arrives ( ~5 days ). I have a worldwide VCR that automatically detects a PAL tape and converts it to NTSC for the TV, which is nice. Anyone want a PAL->NTSC conversion service ?

The Aussie show has their own local pundits wrapped around the ITV F1 commentary. Apart from the adverts not quite syncing with the ITV coverage ( leading to longish periods of silence ), it's just like being at home on a cold and wet Sunday afternoon glued in front of the box.

I do miss Murray Walker though. James Allen is fantastic at knowing what's what in terms of tactics, and Martin Brundle is priceless when it comes to the drivers' perspective, but I do think James Allen tries too hard when the red lights go out at the beginning of the race. The cynic inside me says that he's been told to spice it up by the producers and he just can't cut it.

My tip for '04 : Alonso. Schumi may win it all again but Fernando will show that, put in the same car as Michael, he could be just as good a driver.

Sad prediction for '04 : if DC can't get his qualifying right this is going to be his last year in F1. If he can, I see him doing as well as Kimi and then who knows for next year ?

Bring it on !

mattbutt

talking of crap commentary on the speed channel,

I put Radio 5 live on the web radio and turned the commentary down on the TV. Its not murray walker and you sometimes have to put up with other sport commentary, but its better than listening to some guy who doesnt have a clue. sometimes they dont web cast it due to licensing as well.

My money is on Montoya this year.

Why is it all Finns seem to have a depressingly dull tone of voice, makes you wonder if nigel mansell is a finn?

Pimpbot

Brundle is one of the best colour commentators in sport in my opinion. Always worth listening to. I'm not an Allen fan. Its not just at the start where he tries too hard, its during the entire race.

Franklin

Just a thought, with the growing anti-EU sentiment in F1 (e.g. 35 hour week, EU wide arrest warrants), there is a chance that another GP will go to the USA. If so, I wonder which US track or city would be in with a shout.

monster

Vroom vroom!

When will Jordan decide on their second driver (or did they and I missed it?) I want to get my Fantasy F1 game (on the hyphen-but-no-pop-up-ad site ) underway!

Pimpbot

I doubt that there would be another race scheduled for the US. They have a hard enough time filling Indy and that place is the motor racing capitol of America. Numbers have been slowly dwindling since the first race a few years back. You only have to look at the previous attemps here in Phoenix and Las Vegas to see that it wouldnt work anywhere else than Indy. Although if I could have an F1 race anywhere in the US, it would be Road America at Elkart(sp) Lake. Awsome track.

I'm off to my first desert off road race this weekend. Should be fun. http://www.desertracing.com/

Franklin

Yeah, you have a good point. The attendances at Indy are too low to justify a second F1 GP in the USA. One would think that with such a diversified US population there would be more interest in Formula One. But low attendances say it all.

But there will probably be more F1 GPs outside the EU and obviously fewer inside the EU. Making F1 more international might be one way of building interest in F1 in the good old USofA. Time will tell.

Pulaski

I agree the track is pretty much the equal of Spa-Francochamps, and ideally suited to F1.

Having said that, I would love to see F1 cars on the track at Laguna Seca. I still remember the overtaking manoeuvre that Alex Zanardi pulled off to pass Bryan Herta going through The Cork-screw on the final lap of the CART race there in 1996 - awesome!


Cars take it going down hill - in the above picture from right to left.